It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas on RTÉ lyric fm - and we've compiled a handy one-stop guide to all your seasonal highlights on lyric...
Saturday December 21st
MOVIES AND MUSICALS, 1pm
As the excitement mounts, join Aedín Gormley for her annual Movies and Musicals Christmas special! From old to new you'll hear favourites from all the Christmas classics as Aedín features the best soundtracks and songs from Christmas movies through the years.
OPERA NIGHT, 7pm - The Metropolitan Opera New York presents Verdi's Macbeth
Soprano Anna Netrebko created a sensation when she made her Met role debut as Lady Macbeth in 2014, opposite baritone Zeljko Lucic in the title role. Now, the two stars reunite to reprise their acclaimed portrayals in Verdi's gripping Shakespeare adaptation. Marco Armiliato conducts the Metropolitan orchestra and chorus and a standout cast that also features tenor Matthew Polenzani as Macduff and bass Ildar Abdrazakov as Banquo, in Adrian Noble's evocative production.
VESPERTINE WITH ELLEN CRANITCH, 10pm
'Tis the weekend before Christmas, and all through the night, Ellen is hanging musical baubles on the Vespertine tree. Carols from around the world, traditional songs and tunes, sackfuls of salsa and samba, and dusting out a few glittering gems from Nigel Mooney's Twenty-First Century Christmas Blues. Were you good? You were VERY good. Get in the Yule Mood, stay cosy and snuggle up to some seriously hot seasonal tuneage.
Sunday 22 December 2019
VOX NOSTRA WITH VLAD SMISHKEWYCH, 7am
There's a very French flavour to our pre-Christmas Vox Nostra programming: Baroque composers Jean-Joseph Mouret, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Jean-Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville and Jean-Baptiste Boesset top the playlist this Sunday morning. Medieval cleric Philip the Chancellor provides ethereal beauty in the form of 13th-century conductus, and selections from several Magnificats make for a magnificent start to the day and the Christmas week.
SUNDAY WITH GAY BYRNE, 2pm
The Complete Famous Benny Goodman 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert In this special archive presentation, the late, great Gay Byrne presents for the first time on Irish radio the complete Benny Goodman 1938 Carnegie Hall concert in its entirety. Newly re-mastered from the original acetate discs, this edition of the recording restores two previously omitted performances, both by the full orchestra, to their rightful place in the scheme of things. In addition the full length version of the jam session on Honeysuckle Rose will allow, for the first time a chance to hear trumpeter Buck Clayton's complete solo plus other rarities that feature baritone saxophonist Harry Carney and guitarist Freddy Green.
When the idea of a Benny Goodman concert was first pitched to leading Classical impresario of the day Sol Hurok, to be held at that great bastion of highbrow music, the reaction was distinctly muted. Goodman himself was reluctant, but the canny Hurok sought advice from those in the know and by the time that chilly January evening in 1938 came about, "the first ever swing concert in the history of Carnegie Hall" was a 2760 seater sell out with a 100 extra chairs having to be placed on the stage itself to accommodate the overflow.
THE LYRIC FEATURE - CROSSING THE SOUND, 6pm
Poet Gerald Dawe, originally from Belfast, lived in Galway in the 1970s and 1980s. Like so many writers before him, he found that the life and landscapes of the west of Ireland inspired his work.
In this programme, he goes back to the west of Ireland, starting in Galway city, travelling out through Connemara, and finishing on Achill Island. Along the way, in conversations with people who are native to Galway and Mayo, or who have made it their home, he explores the relationship of the west of Ireland to the arts, and the enduring appeal of its wild landscapes to writers and artists, an appeal that goes back centuries and continues to the present day. We also hear the story of Gerald's own intimate relationship with the west, 'How have things changed since I first went to live there as a young man and started to write out of Galway and Mayo, such contrasting ways of life and living to those I had known in the Belfast of my own upbringing in the 1950s and '60s?'
On his journey, he meets friends and fellow artists: actor Cathy Belton, Tom Kenny of The Kenny Bookshop and Art Gallery, journalist Judy Murphy, artist Pádraic Reaney, poet Seán Lysaght, and John McHugh, artist and manager of Artist's Residency at the Henrich Böll Cottage. The programme includes a selection of Dawe's own poetry inspired by this part of the world.
MYSTERY TRAIN WITH JOHN KELLY, 7pm
Neil Hannon returns to Mystery Train for his traditional Christmas visit.
SOUND OUT WITH IAN MCGLYNN, 9pm
The Louth Contemporary Music Society midsummer festival is an annual highlight of the contemporary music scene in Ireland, which also receives great international acclaim. This year's festival Stations of the Sun was no exception, and tonight we'll hear highlights including music by Kaija Saariaho, who curated this year's festival.
Monday 23 December 2019
NIALL CARROLL'S CLASSICAL DAYTIME, 10am
Niall Carroll plays music from the heart of the classical repertoire. At midday each day this week, Niall chooses his Five of a Kind. This week, we'll hear five extracts from works written for Christmas by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Tuesday December 24th
MARTY IN THE MORNING, 7am
There's lots of festive fun with several stars from the music world telling Marty all about their Christmas plans including Mary Black and Mike Hanrahan. Neven Maguire also joins Marty to calm the nerves with his annual Christmas countdown in the kitchen. We'll be decking the halls, jingling the bells and tra-la-la-ing to 10 this Christmas Eve.
CHOIRS FOR CHRISTMAS WITH EVELYN GRANT, 1PM
On today's programme, Evelyn announces the prize-winners of the RTÉ lyric fm Choirs for Christmas Competition. This competition has established itself as Ireland's biggest choral competition with entries from choirs from all around the country.
THE FULL SCORE WITH LIZ NOLAN, 1pm
Edward Gardner conducts Berlioz's L'enfance du Christ which combines the celestial beauty of an oratorio with operatic flair and dramatic instinct to create one of the composer's most exquisitely lovely works, home to the much-loved Shepherds' Farewell. Vlad Smishkewych presents a showcase of unabridged musical masterworks, featuring live recordings of Irish and international performers, plus selections from the latest CD releases.
LORCAN MURRAY'S CLASSIC DRIVE, 4pm
The Dunedin Consort and Players directed by John Butt is joined by Annie Gill (contralto), Clare Wilkinson (contralto) Nicholas Mulroy (tenor) and Matthew Brook (bass) for Handel's Messiah, telling the universal story of triumph over trial, where life's sorrows and despairs are met by overriding hope and unbridled joy. Presented by Elspeth Hanson, in the interval she explores why Handel's famous oratorio remains such a seasonal favourite for than two hundred and fifty years after its premiere.
MYSTERY TRAIN WITH JOHN KELLY, 7pm
Waiting until the very last moment, John finally unleashes the Christmas tunes for his annual Christmas special. The perfect soundtrack for a wonderful Christmas Eve.
Wednesday 25 December
CENTURIES OF CHRISTMAS WITH VLAD SMISHKEWYCH, 7am
Vlad returns to Christmas morning on RTÉ lyric fm with a millennium of music for this special day. He'll explore the roots and branches of the heart-warming musical traditions around the Christmas-celebrating world, with a magnificent musical accompaniment to the day's holiday celebrations. New releases of seasonal music interweave with beloved favourites in a festive garland of melodies to accompany the festive day.
RTÉ LYRIC FM CHORAL EXTRAVAGANZA, 1pm
Liz Nolan and Lorcan Murray present the 20th Celebration of the RTÉ lyric fm Choirs for Christmas Competition with a host of wonderful prize-winning choirs including, Ardu, The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin, New Dublin Voices, St, Joseph's Primary School Choir, Tipperary town and Limerick's Cantette and Seoda Chamber Choir with the Irish Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Desmond Earley. This concert was recorded on December 1st in UCH Limerick.
THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS WITH CLAUDIA BOYLE, RTÉ NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND MARTY WHELAN, 7pm
Marty Whelan in the company of soprano Claudia Boyle, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Brophy present an enchanted evening of classical delights recorded at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre earlier this month.
From the blazing orchestral brilliance of Leonard Bernstein's Candide Overture and swooning romance of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo to emotion-laden operatic jewels by Puccini, Verdi, Gounod and Dvorak, ballet treasures by Tchaikovsky and John Williams' score to the festive film fixture Home Alone, this will be an evening of seasonal songs and well-loved carols. The programme will also include Andrew Lloyd Webber's Pie Jesu, Hess's A Christmas Overture, Gruber's Silent Night and other seasonal favourites.
THE BLUE OF THE NIGHT WITH BERNARD CLARKE, 9pm
The Christmas Oratorio contains some of Bach's greatest choral music. Despite the title, it is not really an oratorio, for it consists of six cantatas based on various aspects of the Christmas story. The first recounts the birth of Jesus, the second and third deal with the shepherds, the fourth with the naming of Jesus, while the fifth and sixth are concerned with the Magi.
For the Blue Of The Night Christmas special, you can hear a live performance from January 2012 at St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. Soloists Julia Doyle, soprano Paula Murphy, alto Peter Harvey and tenor Mark Padmore join chorus master Mark Hindley, the RTE Philharmonic Choir, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Matthew Halls.
Thursday December 26th
THE FULL SCORE WITH LIZ NOLAN, 1pm
Saint-Saens's Oratorio de Noel has everything one needs in a festive Christmas piece: joyous choruses, a gently undulating siciliano, delicate harp sounds, a transfigured Romantic idiom and a typically French wealth of melody. To set the mood, the concert opens with Christmas motets by Francis Poulenc, a Lord's Prayer by Leos Janacek, choruses by Britten and Mendelssohn and Jan Sandström's spectacularly sensuous 1990 adaptation of Praetorius's carol Es ist ein Ros entsprungen.
Friday December 27th
THE FULL SCORE WITH LIZ NOLAN, 1pm
Join the BBC Singers for a special Christmas celebration with a swing! Ben Palmer conducts the BBC Singers, members of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and The Alexander L'Estrange Jazz Trio in a concert of popular festive favourites from yesteryear. Featuring classics such as The Christmas Song, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year and many more. The BBC Singers are also joined by a very special guest, the international jazz singer Clare Teal.
THE LYRIC CONCERT WITH PAUL HERRIOTT, 7:30pm
Michael Lee presents Chief Conductor Jaime Martin's inaugural concert with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. The significance of the occasion was marked with a performance of Mahler's 3rd Symphony with mezzo-soprano, Jennifer Johnston, the ladies of the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and RTÉ Cór na nÓg.
Saturday 28th September
EVELYN GRANT'S WEEKEND DRIVE, 4pm
Some of the world's best music played by the finest musicians, familiar favourites and new releases. Plus news and traffic updates. At 6.05pm on Poetry File, James Lawless reads Ascending a Liberty Stairway in 1952. Lawless is the recipient of several awards and is the author of six novels, poetry collection Rus in Urbe and a study of modern poetry, Clearing The Tangled Wood: Poetry as a Way of Seeing the World. In a year that brought political and economic uncertainty to our borders, Evelyn presents highlights from a concert last September in Waterford featuring the Irish Symphonic Wind Orchestra conducted by Mark Heron with Michael Marshall, trombone soloist. They performed music by composers from across Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales as a celebration of the musical and cultural ties between these lands.
OPERA NIGHT WITH PAUL HERRIOTT, 7pm - Irish National Opera presents La Cenerentola by Rossini
Tonight's Opera Night features Rossini's effervescent take on the Cinderella story, recorded in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre in November 2019 with Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught in the title role and tenor Andrew Owens as her Prince Charming. Fergus Sheil conducts the lively action, which also features bass Graeme Danby as the bumbling Don Magnifico, bass-baritone David Ostrek as the benevolent Alidoro, and baritone Riccardo Novaro as the wily servant Dandini.
Sunday 29th December
AEDÍN GORMLEY'S SUNDAY MATINÉE, 1pm
This afternoon a chance to hear the RTÉ Concert Orchestra's treatment of the iconic 1958 Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong album Porgy and Bess. Award-winning jazz trumpeter Ryan Quigley recreated the lost score from the recording and the RTÉ CO presented the first-ever concert version in September at the National Concert Hall. Taking the title roles are Nicola Emmanuelle and Enrico Tomasso, who actually knew Louis Armstrong as a child! The concert is packed with Gershwin greats: Rhapsody in Blue, The Man I Love, Embraceable You, Fascinating Rhythm and Nelson Riddle's arrangement of I Got Rhythm. The conductor and host for the concert is Stephen Bell.
GAYBO AND ME, 3pm
Brendan Balfe presents a personal memoir of his friend and colleague, Gay Byrne. Brendan first met Gay Byrne on the 6th of July 1962 at the first Late Late Show, live from Studio One in Montrose. Brendan was 16 and was aware of Gay from his radio work. 'He was the first radio voice that spoke to us teenagers', says Brendan, ' so when I saw a slide on television looking for an audience for a new live TV show with Gay, me and two pals headed in'.
Three years after their first meeting, Brendan found himself in the odd position of ringing Gay and offering him a job as presenter of a new programme sponsored by Urney Chocolates. He later produced three other sponsored programmes with Gay. It was the start of a friendship that lasted 57 years.
The paths of the two broadcasters crossed many times. Brendan was Gay's first radio producer and, almost half a century later, his second-last producer on RTÉ lyric fm. In Gaybo And Me Brendan shares memories, stories and audio clips of his old friend.
THE LYRIC FEATURE: MOTHER'S BLOOD, SISTER SONGS, 6pm
Acclaimed Irish composer Linda Buckley has a personal and professional affinity to Iceland, and in this radio series she teams up with documentary maker Helen Shaw to trace the connections between the two places, in story and song. The Icelandic female line goes directly back to Gaelic women, mostly taken as slaves, by Norwegian Vikings who settled the land over a thousand years ago. In this evocative music led documentary Buckley and Shaw travel to Iceland to hear its stories and listen to its singers.
SOUND OUT WITH IAN MCGLYNN, 9pm
On the last Sound Out of 2019, Ian McGlynn looks back at some of his favourite new releases. We'll hear songs for soprano and organ performed by Anne Sofie von Otter, songs on the subject of vulnerable women sung by Carolyn Sampson and songs for a soldier at war from Christopher Maltman. Plus contemporary opera from Enda Walsh and Donnacha Dennehy, the unique Ficino Ensemble perform music by Garret Sholdice and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw grows music from the traces of what came before.
Monday 30th December
NIALL CARROLL'S CLASSICAL DAYTIME, 10am
Vlad Smishkewych plays music from the heart of the classical repertoire. At midday each day, Vlad chooses his Five of a Kind. This week we'll hear five pieces for piano composed by Franz Schubert.
Tuesday 31st December
THE FULL SCORE WITH LIZ NOLAN, 1pm
Riccardo Muti conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in a concert of music by Schubert from the Hercule Hall in Munich. Shirley Keane presents a showcase of unabridged musical masterworks, featuring live recordings of Irish and international performers, plus selections from the latest CD releases.
Wednesday January 1st
NIALL CARROLL'S CLASSICAL DAYTIME, 10am
Niall Carroll brings the traditional Viennese welcome for the New Year with the so-called 'concert of concerts' live from the Musikverein in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Andris Nelsons. Expect a lively and nostalgic repertoire of music with the waltzes of the Strauss family taking centre stage. Andris Nelsons is Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Since 2010, Andris Nelsons has been a musical partner of the Vienna Philharmonic. The New Year's Concert 2020 represents Nelsons' first time to conduct this prestigious international concert event. The concert will be broadcast in over 90 countries.
Listen back to your favourite RTÉ lyric fm programmes here.
